# What would a diadem made of radium (and diamonds) be like **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [June 3, 2025, 10:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-would-a-diadem-made-of-radium-and-diamonds-be-like/1019175 "2025-06-03T22:24:48Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 11\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [June 5, 2025, 1:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-would-a-diadem-made-of-radium-and-diamonds-be-like/1019175/21 "2025-06-05T13:18:07Z")
You mean just in contact with air? ---
**Author:** ![DemonTree](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/demontree/32/8646_2.png) [@DemonTree](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DemonTree)\ **Post date:** [June 5, 2025, 1:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-would-a-diadem-made-of-radium-and-diamonds-be-like/1019175/22 "2025-06-05T13:19:04Z")
> [@Slithy\_Tove](#): > > Years ago I read of a socialite who proudly wore a [Trinitite](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trinitite) necklace, but if I could only remember her name, I’d look her up on [findagrave.com](http://findagrave.com) to see how that all ended up This article mentions an actress who wore a trinitite hair ornament, which may or may not be what you were thinking of: > [@](#): > > Trinitite received national attention in 1948 when top New York jewelry designer Marc Koven combined trinitite with palladium in a well-publicized, atom-shaped hair ornament for Hollywood actress Merle Oberon. > **[Trinitite, Oppenheimer & the Trinity Site - Rock & Gem Magazine](https://www.rockngem.com/trinitite-oppenheimer-the-trinity-site/)** > > Trinitite was top of mind in 2023 with the movie, Oppenheimer. Learn more about this celebrated, sought-after, and readily available reminder of that era. ---
**Author:** ![Northern\_Piper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/northern_piper/32/5304_2.png) [@Northern\_Piper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Northern_Piper)\ **Post date:** [June 5, 2025, 1:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-would-a-diadem-made-of-radium-and-diamonds-be-like/1019175/23 "2025-06-05T13:32:16Z")
> [@RivkahChaya](#): > > a spell can change your biological sex which book was that? ---
**Author:** ![RivkahChaya](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rivkahchaya/32/8919_2.png) [@RivkahChaya](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RivkahChaya)\ **Post date:** [June 5, 2025, 5:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-would-a-diadem-made-of-radium-and-diamonds-be-like/1019175/24 "2025-06-05T17:12:25Z")
> [@Northern\_Piper](#): > > which book was that? _Ozma of Oz_ ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [June 5, 2025, 5:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-would-a-diadem-made-of-radium-and-diamonds-be-like/1019175/25 "2025-06-05T17:14:46Z")
> [@Mangetout](#): > > You mean just in contact with air? I mean in contact with the trace amounts of moisture in and on human skin. The lye wouldn’t have a chance to cause blisters, because the reaction that formed the lye would have already caused damage much greater than blisters. ---
**Author:** ![markn\_1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f9ae1b/32.png) [@markn\_1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/markn_1)\ **Post date:** [June 6, 2025, 1:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-would-a-diadem-made-of-radium-and-diamonds-be-like/1019175/26 "2025-06-06T01:31:27Z")
I don’t remember that happening in Ozma of Oz, but it does happen in The Marvelous Land of Oz. The protagonist is the boy Tip who learns that he was actually born a girl and had been magically transformed into a boy. At the end of the book the spell is reversed and he again becomes a girl. ---
**Author:** ![RivkahChaya](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rivkahchaya/32/8919_2.png) [@RivkahChaya](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RivkahChaya)\ **Post date:** [June 7, 2025, 1:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-would-a-diadem-made-of-radium-and-diamonds-be-like/1019175/27 "2025-06-07T01:14:19Z")
Ozma is the girl he becomes. ---
**Author:** ![markn\_1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f9ae1b/32.png) [@markn\_1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/markn_1)\ **Post date:** [June 7, 2025, 1:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-would-a-diadem-made-of-radium-and-diamonds-be-like/1019175/28 "2025-06-07T01:20:59Z")
Yes I know, but Ozma’s transformation happens in _The Marvelous Land of Oz_, not in _Ozma of Oz_. I don’t believe there is any sex-transformation in the latter book. ---
**Author:** ![RivkahChaya](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rivkahchaya/32/8919_2.png) [@RivkahChaya](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RivkahChaya)\ **Post date:** [June 7, 2025, 1:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-would-a-diadem-made-of-radium-and-diamonds-be-like/1019175/29 "2025-06-07T01:24:30Z")
No, and I meant that it happened to her, not in the Ozma of Oz book, though. I should have left the name without italics. I plead tiredness. ---
**Author:** ![california\_jobcase](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/9d8465/32.png) [@california\_jobcase](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/california_jobcase)\ **Post date:** [June 21, 2025, 3:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-would-a-diadem-made-of-radium-and-diamonds-be-like/1019175/30 "2025-06-21T03:45:19Z")
This may be a nitpick, but radium is in group 2 on the periodic table which makes it an alkaline earth metal, not an alkaline metal (group 1). Anyway, back when I used to have my students do reports on the elements several sources stated that there probably is no substantial quantity of the pure element around anymore. ---
**Author:** ![RivkahChaya](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rivkahchaya/32/8919_2.png) [@RivkahChaya](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RivkahChaya)\ **Post date:** [June 21, 2025, 9:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-would-a-diadem-made-of-radium-and-diamonds-be-like/1019175/31 "2025-06-21T21:46:12Z")
On earth. This is Oz. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-would-a-diadem-made-of-radium-and-diamonds-be-like/1019175.md?page=1)